The first industry wide research report has been published by Gilbane Group, offering ‘Growth, Trends and Best Practices’ of the digital magazine and newspaper industry. Drawing on audited data and information from YUDU and other digital publishing players, the report highlights 247% growth of publications that have gone digital since 2005, with over 3,200 publications now in circulation.
Interestingly, Gilbane Group estimate that this number will rise to over 8000 by 2009 – but this report was written before we launched Freedom! We’ve almost hit that number of publications in less than one month of going live, highlighting that the introduction of our free online digital publishing system is moving the industry forward even faster – great news for publishers and readers alike.
The report includes over 20 case studies of best practice, including some of our very own clients’ success stories , including Welco, a large catalogue publisher for industrial products, Navy News, a magazine aimed at the Royal Navy and other service personnel, and GradPlus, who produce Gradlife, a job opportunity and career information magazine for graduates.
The number of publications offering a digital edition has increased by 277% between 2005 and 2007. Interestingly, and in accordance with our own data, the number of business to business publications offering subscriptions has increased by 327%, a much faster rate than business to consumer publications, which have seen an increase of 233%. The number of actual subscribers has increased by 315%. The report stated, “When content is aligned with a readers job responsibilities, digital subscriptions are more popular”.
The report concluded that digital editions are best used in conjunction with a website, as part of almost every digital publishing strategy, and that the two should be well integrated and co-ordinated. Gilbane believe that while digital publishing is still in its early stages, innovation to date has been impressive and technology will continue to improve.
YUDU have already committed to continuous development. And with the introduction of Freedom, we have seen the market for digital editions grow substantially in just 1 month. And this is just the beginning… there is so much more to come from YUDU that it will only get better!
And once again, a big thank you to our customers who took part in the Gilbane study, we really appreciate your help.